Customer invoice headache

Customers continue to cause headaches for many small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK by offering elaborate and far-fetched excuses for the non-payment of outstanding invoices.

It seems the reasons being given for the delay in payment are becoming increasingly creative.

New research from the UK’s leading independent invoice financier Bibby Financial Services reveals that the advent of fast and secure automatic payment transfer systems has seemingly led to many UK businesses becoming more inventive with their reason for delaying payments.

According to Bibby’s research, 34% of businesses claim they are unable to pay because the company accountant is unavailable or the person responsible for signing the cheques is out of the office on annual leave or at off-site meetings.

A third are content to blame delivery companies for the non-arrival of a cheque, claiming it has already been despatched or believing there to be a problem with the postal system.

Despite systems such as the Clearing House Automated Payment System rendering hackneyed excuses such as “the cheque is in the post” almost redundant, more than one in 10 attempt to pull the wool over their suppliers’ eyes by citing inadequacies with the bank.